True Crime: Box Set (4 page)

Cover
image courtesy of Maarten Van Damme – Flickr -
https://www.flickr.com/photos/mavadam/3480359060/

Chapter
1 - Jean Spangler

Hollywood
is a dream. An aspiring artist would never pass up on the opportunity
to be in a Hollywood movie. The glitz and the glamour are appealing,
especially to young women who want their talent and beauty to be
noticed. Sadly, not all are given the same wonderful opportunity. In
fact, some even disappear while trying to pursue their acting
passion, like Jean Elizabeth Spangler.

On
September 2, 1923, Jean Elizabeth Spangler was born in Seattle,
Washington. Before she disappeared on October 7, 1949, she was a
singer, dancer, and a part-time actress in Hollywood films. At the
time of her disappearance, she was only 26 years old.

Jean
was a divorcee, and she had a young daughter named Christine Louise
Benner. Her former husband and Christine’s father, Dexter
Benner, once had the custody of Christine. Back then , the court
sided with him because of Jean’s extra-marital affair, and her
lifestyle which consisted of partying a lot.

Dexter
claimed that Jean’s lifestyle would always take precedence
before the well-being of their daughter and at one point he even
threatened Jean that he could take Christine to a place where she
wouldn’t be able to see her again. This was the last straw, so
Jean took Dexter to court, and finally won over the custody battle in
1948. The court asserted that Jean’s wild'' life was already
behind her and she could now properly take care of her daughter. At
the time of Jean’s disappearance, Christine was only 5 years
old.

Jean
and Christine lived in a house in Wilshire District in Los Angeles,
with her mother, her brother, and her sister in law, Sophie. On
October 7, 1949, at 5 pm, Jean kissed Christine goodbye and told
Sophie that she would be meeting Dexter about a late child-support
payment (in some reports, it was about increasing the child support).
Afterwards, she would be night shooting a few scenes for a new movie.
“Wish me luck,” she told her sister in law.

When
Jean didn’t come home the next day, Sophie became distressed.
She became so worried that she hurried to the Wilshire Division of
LAPD and reported Jean as missing. Although the police collected the
details, they were doubtful that Jean was even really missing. For
them, she must have just partied hard and stayed out for the night.

They
didn’t even enter her name in the police teletype for missing
people. Nevertheless, they still checked the studios where she
worked, but weirdly, each one said that they had no work in progress
with her. On top of that, none of the studios had scheduled shooting
on the evening of October 7. Still, the police were quite sure that
Jean would turn up after a day or two.

Well,
they were wrong.

Two
days later, there was still no sign of Jean, but her purse was
recovered near the Fern Dell entrance to the Griffith Park. When the
police took possession of the purse, they noted that the other strap
was ripped. This led them to believe that she was mugged, but after
Sophie said that Jean virtually had no money when she left, they
ruled that suspicion out. Mugging aside, the ripped handle still
conveyed violence. More interesting was the note inside the purse.
Clearly enough, the note was written by Jean, and it said:

“
Kirk--
Can’t wait any longer. Going to see Dr. Scott. It will work out
best this way while my mother is away,”

The
note ended awkwardly and with a comma, so the authorities assumed
that she never got to complete the whole message.

Since
the discovery of the note, LAPD had assigned 60 people to search
Griffith Park, but despite this effort, no other clues came forward
except for a sales clerk in a local market near Jean’s house
who reported that she saw Jean and it was as if she was waiting for
someone. LAPD also questioned Dexter Benner, but he denied meeting
Jean. In fact, he hadn’t seen her since several weeks prior to
the case. Lynn, his new wife, backed his story and said that on
October 7, Dexter was with her the whole day.

When
Jean’s mother returned home, she mentioned about a “Kirk”
that had been picking up Jean. The person however didn’t enter
their home even once- he only stayed inside the car as he waited for
Jean. The police also searched for the “Dr. Scott”, but
each one had no records of a patient with a surname “Spangler”
or “Benner.”

In
the heat of the investigation, and probably after the news of a
missing starlet spread like wildfire, an actor named “Kirk
Douglas” called the police from Palm Springs where he was on
vacation. He wanted to clear his name, and did so by explaining that
he wasn’t the Kirk being talked about in the note. Before the
police could even connect the dots, Kirk Douglas offered the
information that Jean worked as an extra to a film where he was the
main actor.

He
also stated that he didn’t even know who Jean Spangler was
until one acquaintance reminded him of the small role she played in
“
Young Man with a Horn
”
.
He admitted that he conversed with Jean on the day of the shooting,
but not before or after that. Despite Kirk Douglas’ honesty,
many still raised their eyebrows at his “defensiveness”.

Could
her disappearance be related to her love affair? In “
Pretty
Girl”
the last movie
that Jean had worked on, she told the star, Robert Cummings about a
“new romance”. According to Robert, when he heard Jean
whistling her way to the dressing room, he greeted her by saying “You
sound happy,” to which Jean replied that she was because she
had a new romance. Robert asked her if it was serious, and Jean said
no, but she was having the time of her life.

And
then as if there was not enough mystery, one of Jean’s
girlfriends contacted the police and told them that Jean had confided
with her about her 3-month pregnancy and how she planned to abort the
baby. This made LAPD connect her urgency to reach “Dr. Scott”
and why it was better “this way while her mother was away”.
At that time, abortion in Los Angeles was illegal.

Again,
the authorities did a thorough search for the elusive doctor, but
nothing significant turned up. When they started interviewing the
night clubs Jean frequented before, they learned of an ex-medical
student who was just known as “Doc”. Apparently, “Doc”
was famous for doing abortion for a fee. Try as they might, this
“Doc” was also as elusive.

The
only “Scott” the investigators found was the Scotty to
which Jean had an affair with while she was still married to Dexter.
This Scotty was violent and even threatened to kill her if she left.
Scotty, however, made no more contact with Jean since 1945, and he
wasn’t a doctor but an air corps lieutenant.

The
police investigated each place that had even just the slightest
connection to the starlet, but came up with nothing. In one
interview, one investigator even mentioned that the only thing they
found out about Jean was that she “got around a lot”. In
their quest to find her, they learned that she had been romantically
or sexually linked to various men such as an educator, a rich
playboy, a nightclub owner, jet-setters, and actors. One prominent
personality that became controversial during the case was David
“Little Davy” Ogul.

Davy,
who was connected to a gangster boss named Mike Cohen, was reported
to be missing only two days after Jean vanished. When the records
were pulled, the police found that they were indicted for conspiracy.
They started assuming that the two simply went away together to avoid
prosecution.

This
theory was further strengthened by a report from El Paso, Texas, that
Davey was seen with a lady who looked like Jean. When the police
arrived at the hotel where they were spotted, the staff identified
Jean from a photo. However, when they checked the records of the
hotel, no room was checked under Jean or Davey. They searched El
Paso, too, but no sign of Davey and Jean surfaced.

For
years, the police continued their search for Jean, but to no avail.
No new clues turned up, although a lot of witnesses said they had
seen Jean in various places such as Phoenix, Arizona and Mexico City.
Until now, Jean’s case is still open and she’s still
under the missing persons’ category.

Due
to Jean’s disappearance, Dexter was again proclaimed as
Christine’s custodian. He tried to get Lynn (his new wife)
become Christine’s legal mother through the process of adoption
on the grounds of abandonment, but the jury didn’t grant it
since there was no proof of Jean’s death. Jean’s mother
was granted with visitation rights, but Dexter often ignored it.

Due
to his persistent neglect to follow court order, he served 15 days in
jail. In the end, Dexter took Christine and Lynn to a new state and
never returned. In 2007, Dexter died at the age of 87. He left Lynn,
his wife and three daughters, including Christine who now goes by the
surname of Williams.

Many
mystery enthusiasts still find things odd in this case. For example,
even though Lynn was able to prove Dexter’s alibi on the night
of the disappearance, shouldn’t there be more witnesses or
proof? Maybe Lynn was just covering for her husband... This idea
sounded logical when it was later found out that Lyn Benner was
formerly Lyn Lasky, ex-wife of Ely Lasky who was close to Mikey
Cohen-- the gangster boss.

If
you’ll remember, Davy Ogul was also connected to Mikey Cohen.
The connections were odd. Although it could all be just coincidences,
many people believed that the police should have concentrated more on
it.

Another
thing was Dr. Scott. It was mentioned that LAPD searched for doctors
with the surname Scott, but what if Scott was actually the first
name?

Other
people resorted to formulating their own theories. Perhaps Dexter
really had something to do with the crime, and Lynn used her previous
gangster connection to cover him up? Or maybe, the man 'Scottie',
whom Jean had an affair with, returned and sought revenge? Could it
be that Davey was really the new lover, and they planned it all
along? The chance of solving this case now is slim, especially since
possible witnesses now have fading memories.

Chapter
2 - Michael Rosenblum

Valentine
’s Day is supposed to be a joyous celebration for lovers, but
in 1980, it was clouded with controversy when a man from Pittsburgh,
Pennsylvania disappeared.

Michael
Rosenblum was not very typical in the sense of youthful exploration.
When he was in high school, he tried and experimented with drugs.
While other teenage boys would also develop such curiosity, they
would still know when to stop and quit it. Michael didn’t. In
fact, he became overly attached to illegal drugs. His penchant was
taking in heavy pain killers. The addiction was so severe that his
parents pushed for him to undergo rehabilitation, which fortunately
happened.

Unfortunately,
it was unsuccessful.

On
the evening of February 13, 1980, Michael’s mother, Barbara,
noticed that Michael was acting strangely again. When she
investigated, she found a bottle of pain killers in his room. Out of
frustration and lack of hope, she kicked Michael out of their family
home in Baldwin Borough, Pennsylvania. At that time, Michael was with
his girlfriend, Lisa, so they left the house together using Lisa’s
car.

They
partied hard straight after being kicked out, so the next morning,
February 14, when Michael woke up to a massive hangover, Lisa
encouraged hospitalization. Upon reaching the hospital, Michael
declined any form of treatment, so they simply left the hospital and
went to the nearest gas station, to refuel. At the gas station,
Michael insisted on borrowing Lisa’s car and driving it. He
left Lisa stranded with only a few parting words-- “Go to my
parent’s house, I’ll see you there in two hours.”

Well,
those were literally Michael’s last words because after leaving
Lisa stranded at the gas station, he was never seen again.

The
next day, February 15, Barbara and Maurice, Michael’s father,
filed a missing persons report at Pittsburgh police. During an
interview, Barbara even told about her regret in what she told her
son. Apparently, when she kicked him out, she told Michael that he
shouldn’t return until the drugs were completely out of his
system and his lifestyle.

In
her thoughts, perhaps it would have been different if she simply told
him to try again and undergo rehab once more. At that time, she
thought that her son would return-- his clothes were still in his
closet and his money was still intact in his back account. To
Barbara, if ever Michael planned on leaving, he would have told his
family because that was the way he was. Same with Maurice: during the
time, he believed that Michael would come back. After all, he took
Lisa’s car and he instructed her to wait at his parent’s
house.

Investigation
immediately started. The Pittsburgh Police Department started looking
for Lisa’s car, after two weeks of trying and there were still
no results, Maurice became desperate. He began his own investigation.
He printed out posters, offered reward money, and travelled even as
far as California. It wasn’t until 3 months later, on May 21,
that Baldwin Borough Police Department called Lisa and told her that
they found her car in the pound. What was more shocking was the fact
that it was there since the day Michael left on February 14.